Container



March 27, 1956 J. l. PRITCHETT 2,739,752

CONTAINER Filed Nov. 13, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JOHN J.PR/TC'l-lfiTT wa /{MA ATTORNEYJ March 27, 1956 J. l. PRITCHETT CONTAINER3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 13, 1953 I n I m I I u n I I I I I I I a I In I u I n I I I I I u m I \u m m o u my Wm .H I o 4 March 27, 1956 J. 1.PRITCHETT Q 2,739,752

CONTAINER Filed NOV. 13, 1955 3 Sheets Sheet 5 ant 5. zfizwa UnitedStates Patent Q i CONTAINER John I. Pritchett, Jamestown, N. C.,assignor to Highland Container Company, Incorporated, a corporation ofNorth Carolina Application November 13, 1953, Serial No. 391,977

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-37) This invention relates to containers and moreparticularly to a paperboard container adapted for carrying or shippingarticles placed therein. Illustrative but nonlimiting uses for thecontainer are for packaging and shipping fruits and vegetables, and forcarrying or shipping a plurality of metal parts, such as, smallelectrical devices, although the container may be found useful for manyother purposes.

An important feature of this container is the locking of the bottom ofthe container by thrusting an extension panel thereon through the bottomof the container and laying it against an inner side. This arrangementalso provides a double thickness in the bottom of the container whichgreatly increases its load carrying capacity and practically preventsany rupture of the container even when packed with relatively very greatloads, short of the bursting strength of the paper itself.

Another advantageous feature of this container is the tapering of thesides in connection with the above noted bottom locking feature and bywhich the set up container is adapted for nesting when empty, and whichalso provides advantageously for arranging air circulation through thecontainer when filled and stacked side by side with other similarcontainers.

Still another commercially important feature of the invention is thesmooth interior surface thereof, which facilitates the packing andshipping of fruits and vegetables without damage.

These and other features and advantages of the container of thisinvention are described further below in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the presentinvention, and showing a top closure therefor in place;

Fig. 2 is a further perspective view showing the interior of thecontainer illustrated in Fig. 1, with the top closure therefor removedand inverted;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section detail of the container taken substantiallyalong the line 33 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a further vertical section detail taken substantially on theline 44 in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a blank from which the container shown in Figs.1 to 4 may be formed.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the illustrated embodiment ofthe present invention comprises a container, indicated generally by thereference numeral 10, having two pairs of opposed side walls 12 and 14,and 16 and 18, joined serially to form an assembled side wall structure.In the embodiment shown all of the side walls 12, 14, 16 and 18 aretapered downwardly to narrowed bottom edges, although the containermight be formed according to the present invention with only the sidewall pair 12 and 14 tapered in this manner, if desired.

The bottom of the container 10 comprises a bottom wall hinged at thebottom edge of the side wall 12 and having a locking panel 22 hinged atthe opposite edge thereof, with the locking panel 22 tapering towardthis hinged edge in correspondence with the taper of the op- 2,739,752Patented Mar. 27, 1956 posed side walls 12 and 14. This locking panel 22is disposed in face to face relation at the inner face of the adjacentside wall 14 so that its side edges are disposed to bear downwardlyagainst the inner faces of the side walls 16 and 18 (as seen best inFig. 2) to lock the bottom wall 20 in place against downward pressure. Asecond bottom wall 24' is hinged at the bottom edge of the side wall 16,and a flap 26 at the bottom edge of the side wall 18, so that with theflap 26 disposed to overlie the inner face of bottom wall 12 and thesecond bottom wall 24 disposed to overlie the flap 26, the bottom of thecontainer 10 is provided with continuous support along the entire extentof the side wall bottom edges and thereby greatly strengthened.

Handle flaps 23 for the container 10 are formed at the top edges of atleast one pair of the opposed side walls, such as 12 and 14, and thesehandle flaps are arranged in relation to a separate top closure or coverfor the container 10, as indicated generally by the reference numeral30. The container top 30 comprises a .top Wall panel 32 having pairs ofopposed side flaps 34 and 36 hinged at the edges thereof, with each sideflap of the opposed pair 34 having an auxiliary flap 38 hinged at thebottom edge thereof, and each side wall flap of the opposed pair 36having lateral flaps 40 hinged at the ends thereof, these lateral flaps40 being disposed at right angles to the side flaps 36 and inside theside flaps 34 with the auxiliary flaps 38 doubled inwardly thereover.The container top 30 is further formed with clearance slots 42 for thepreviously mentioned handle flaps 28 so that access to these handleflaps 28 is allowed when the top 30 is in place.

Fig. 5 shows a form of blank from which the container 10 as illustratedin Figs. 1 to 4 may be erected, and in which the side walls 12, 18, 14and 16 are shown integrally hinged in series in the order named from topto bottom; the integral hinging being effected at score lines 18', 14',and 16, arranged to provide the previously noted tapered form for theopposed pairs of side walls 12, 14, 16 and 18. To complete the seriallyconnected arrangement of these side walls in the containerltl, the sidewall 12 has the edge thereof opposite the score line 18' defined by anoppositely arranged score line 12 at which an assembly flap 44 ishinged. This assembly flap 44 is suitably coated with an adhesive, asindicated by stippling in Fig. 5 so that it may be secured to the outerface of the side wall 16 adjacent the free side edge thereof asindicated best in Figs. 1 and 2 by folding the bottom portion of theblank as shown in Fig. 5 upwardly about the score line 14', so that theside Walls 14' and 16 are disposed to overlie the side Walls 18 and 12,respectively, it will be seen that the adhesive coated assembly flap 44can be secured against the outer face of the side wall 16 as just notedabove and it should be noted that this assembly step completes the onlyjoint at which positive fastening in the structure of container 10 isemployed or required. It

should also be noted that upon completion of this assembly step, thecontainer 10 is arranged in collapsed position for convenient handlingduring shipping or storage prior to use. Alternatively the assembly flap44 might be secured to the side wall 16 by any other convenient assemblymeans, if desired, such as by metal stitches or staples, or by adhesivecoated tape made of paper reinforced with glass or sisal fiber or thelike, orof cloth, or of a combination of paper and cloth coated withadhesive.

The previously mentioned bottom wall 20, second bottom Wall 24, andinterposed bottom flap 26 are shown integrally hinged, respectively, atthe bottom edges of the side walls 12, 16 and 18 along score lines 20',24', and 26', with the bottom wall 20 having the locking panel 22integrally hinged at the score line 22 along the edge thereof oppositethe score line 20'.

With the container 10 assembled in collapsed position by means of theassembly flap 44, as just described above, erection of the container 10lo the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4 may be accomplished by first movingthe pairs of side Walls 12 and lid, and 16 and 18, so that they aresquared in opposed relation; then folding the second bottom wall 24 andthe bottom ilap 26 upwardly against the inner faces of the adjacent sidewalls 16 and 18; then folding the bottom wall 26 and locking panel 22with respect to the side wall 12 so that the locking panel 22 is broughtupwardly inside the side wall 14 and disposed in face to face relationtherewith; and finally folding downwardly the bottom flap 26, to overliethe adjacent side edge portion of the outer bottom wall 29, and theinner bottom wall 24, to overlie the bottom flap 26.

In order to facilitate disposition of the locking panel 22 in relationto the inner face of side wall 14, the side edge,

portions of the locking panel 22 are preferably formed with score lines46 having an opposite inclination with respect to the taper of the sideedges of locking panel 22, so as to allow easy flexing of these sideportions for passing through the narrowed bottom of the taperedcontainer 16.

The previously mentioned handle flaps 28 provided for the container 10are shown in Fig. 5 integrally hinged at score lines 28' along the topedges of side walls 12 and 14, these hinge lines 28' serving to disposethe handle flaps 28 foldably on the side walls 12 and 14- so that afterextension through the clearance slots 42 of the container top 31? theymaybe folded laterally to maintain the top Sit in place. i

The side walls 12, 14, 16 and 18, and the locking panel 7 22, may alsobe advantageously formed with suitable slots,

I claim:

A paperboard'blank for a containen said'blankbeing scored to define aseries of four integrally hinged side walls with the scoring arranged soas to form at least one terminal side wall and the alternately spacedside wall of said series with a common taper in the direction of saidhinging, and integrally hinged assembly flap at the edge of saidterminal side wall remote from the adjacent side wall, a bottom wallintegrally hinged at the edge of said terminal sidewall that is narrowedbythe taper thereof, a locking panel integrally 'hinged at the edge orsaid bottom wall remote from the edge thereof that 'is hin'ged to saidterminal side wall, said locking panel being of the same dimensions assaid alternately spaced side wall and having a corresponding taper andb'ingformed with score lines that extend from its bottom hinged edgecorners to the top edge thereof with an inclination opposite to thetaper of its side edges, a bottom flap integrally hinged adjacent saidhinged bottom wall, at the-corresponding edge of said adjacent sidewall, a bottom panel intcgrallyhinged at the corresponding edge of. theother terminal side wall of said series and being of the same dimensionsas said bottom wall, the side wall'intermediate said adjacent side walland said other terminal, side wall having a free. bottom edgeterminating at the integral hinges of said bottom flap and said bottompanel, at least one of saidside Walls having an air circulating apertureand said locking panel having an aperture registering with any aperturesformed in the side wall with which. it is coextensive, and handleflapsintegrally hinged at the top edges of an op-- posed pair of said sidewalls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS203,899 Dunn May 21, 1878 1,342,770 SelZ Iune8, 1920 1,493,460 PinkertonMay 6, 1924 1,941,819 Walker Jan. 2, 1934 2,237,706 Islieb Apr. 8, 19412,618,429 Donnell Nov. 18, 1942

